When One is Two
by DAmaratsu
Summary: Some things are steeped in shadows and blood until they are drawn out into the moonlight. Some times a person is a puppet to there own strings. Some ways have to be changed with force. It's a good thing there are people out there that would stand by you and help.


After the Winter War but before Kensei becomes captain. Although Kazeshini's possession and subsequent hollow reiryoku consumption has been taking place since Tousen's betrayal, Kazeshini took advantage of Hisagi's weak emotional state and voila. Uh WARNINGS: MILD GORE, LANGUAGE, GAY, OC-NESS, FREQUENT CHANGES IN P.O.V, sorry attempt at humor so yeah. let me know what you all think, if you want to prompt me on KenShuu I'm down. Sorry this turned out monstrously long idk. Title makes no sense, it's just cool

* * *

Power. Beautiful power.

He wanted power, He needed power.

Absolute power.

The spinning blade sliced through the hollow with a whistling shing, dark blood bursting out, coating the returning blade in a fine sparkling sheen, soaking into the reaping sythe that hummed with building reiatsu. The area was saturated with black blood, the air heavy with death and power. Hisagi's body moved, silent upon the ground, graceful and poised between the savaged bodies -well body parts- trailing chain and blades, letting them take in power, letting them feed on thick richness. Velvet seeping into metal breaking down and changing, becoming a part of him, strengthening and reinforcing. The body breathed deeply, letting his reiryoku swirl and tempest within while it reached new heights, the smell of iron weighing heavily on his tongue and in his throat. Not nearly as good as the actual taste of it. His body trembling, laughter surging out as his thoughts turned toward his mounting power, excitement bubbling hot and molten in his limbs. The hollows dissipated into ash and shady nothing, sparkling in the full moonlight. Kazeshini walked on in total silence, letting his blades spin softly and slowly in their shing-shing-shing dance, a low whistling of elation.

* * *

He walked back from the store, arms full of groceries, paying extra attention to his surroundings as he looked into the store windows as he passed. The air felt strange on his skin today, prickling like a mixture of chilling wind and lightning, so he was on guard. And it payed off when he had to dodge the arcing slice of a zanpakuto, face sharpening as he looked for the shinigami it belonged to. A throaty choking laugh and his head whipped to his left, where a figure crouched in shadow; wide grin, gleaming wild eyes, and a bloody blade, glinting and dripping.

"Not bad, not bad. Heheheh. I've got some business to take care of so I'll fight you later." He laughed again, reiatsu churning in the air and he disappeared.

"Heheh killing you will be a nice reward." Carried faintly across the wind. That reiatsu definitely felt like a hollow's.

"Damn." He turned and headed to Urahara's, pulling out a cell.

"Yo, Kensei, need some help caring the bags or something?" Shinji's voice was mocking.

"Can it, Cheshire! Get the others and head to Urahara's, something bigs come up." He ended the call.

* * *

"Kenseeeiii~ What's up?" Mashiro whined in his ear, as usual.

"Yeah, you actually sounded kinda serious on the phone." Shinji was serious himself, gone into his captain mode. The others sat around in various places looking serious as well, even Urahara seemed to sense how important this was.

"There's an Arrancar loss in Karakura." Silence and disbelief; he tensed for the on coming explosion.

"Arrancar-" "Karakura-" "-You sure!?" "-died following Aizen! Right?" He grit his teeth, resisting the urge to scream at them to shut the fuck up so he could explain, but he couldn't resist the urge to slam a fist down on the table, dishing out a harsh glare at them.

"Pretty damn sure, considering it attacked me!" Mashiro looked like she was getting ready to say something, but Urahara -thankfully- stepped in first.

"What do you mean, exactly, Kensei?"

"I was coming back, and this person took a swing at me. I didn't get to see his face, but he could talk and it definitely sounded like he had some screws loss. And his reiatsu felt like a hollow's, no mistake. A pretty powerful one too."

"What'd it say?" Shinji seemed almost morbidly curious.

"That he had business to take care of and that 'killing you will be a nice reward'."

"Are you positive it's an Arrancar?" Urahara was really serious, this man wasn't someone who could ever really be taken lightly, there was no messing with him.

"Yeah, he had a zanpakuto, he looked like a person, and the reiatsu, again. I mean sure it felt kind of weird, like it was masking a shinigami, but I figured it was the same as how our reiryoku and everything became more hollow like after we became Visords."

"It makes enough sense, since Arrancars are hollows with shinigami powers it stands to reason that they would have shinigami like reiatsu."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do!?" Hiyori finally cut in,"Shouldn't we just go hunt the thing down and put it out of its misery!? Why wait and talk more? We already know enough to go on!" The others seemed inclined to agree, Mashiro even more so.

"Pipe down Hiyori!" Shinji frowned as he tried, key word being tried, to force Hiyori back down.

"Now now, let's not do anything rash. There's a fukutaicho in town. It's best to just let him know and see what goes from there." Urahara stood up a made for the door.

"Hey, you sure that's a good idea?" Shinji called out. Urahara turned partially towards them, door half opened, a mysterious smile on his face.

"Certainly~ why he's practically the captain of the ninth division."

A pause as the shoji clicked shut.

"Ninth division? Wait… WHAT?!" He got the distinct feeling that Kisuke was laughing at him.

* * *

He sighed, gentle darkness cocooning him, sleep dancing and fluttering away and away from his grasp in the blackness. Not that it really mattered, he didn't want to sleep truthfully, didn't want to vividly dream of cooing blades twisting and slicing into bodies and flesh, didn't want to see the faces of comrades painted sparkling red and limp. Didn't want to recall it as if it were memories, intense and real and lucid. He curled inward, seeking warmth from the covers to escape the early morning cold. A soft knocked echoed into the room and he immediately rose to answer. He felt jittery as he trudged towards the door, trying to steady his shaking hands; he needed blank sleep, he needed actual work, helping with restorations wasn't enough.

His eyes widened only marginally when he saw who was standing on the other side of the door. "Urahara-san? What can I do for you?"

"Ah yes-" Urahara smiled genially, waving his infamous fan, " There seems to be an Arrancar in Karakura and I was hoping you would handle it, Hisagi-san."

"Ah-uh yes. Yes of course. I'll uh make sure I deal with it, thank you for telling me."

Urahara smiled pleasantly, "No thank you~." And walked off.

Night slowly came, and he shadowed the streets, senses spread and taunt, a live wire sparking and waiting for connection. Clouds passed and time passed and minor hollows appeared and were finished, but no Arrancar. Soon dawn came and he settled down for a light sleep, still ready and sensing for the Arrancar.

* * *

He had had trouble sleeping that night, tense and ready for the mysterious Arrancar to attack him when his guard was down, but when morning finally came there wasn't any sight of others seemed ready for anything as well, after the episode with Aizen and his team of Arrancars, they weren't so ready to let things rest easy. That breakfast was especially serious and it was silently agreed that he would ask Urahara how things had went, if the Arrancar was still out there or if this ninth division, his division, fukutaicho had managed to defeat it. When he got to Urahara's though, he found him talking with someone, no doubt the fukutaicho he had told about the Arrancar.

"Urahara-san, I don't suppose you have any more information for me about this Arrancar, do you?"

"Hmm, 'fraid not. He didn't show up last night?"

"No. Well, I'm in town for a week more so I'll see what happens in that time, if not I'll make sure to submit a report about it, make sure it gets properly handled."

"Please do." Urahara smiled brightly, lounging in a way only he could manage that would make himself look lazy and important.

"If you'd excuse me," the fukutaicho bowed deeply, " I'll just-" he stepped in, announcing himself boldly.

"Hey! Kid! I'm the one who told Kisuke about the Arrancar. I'm-"

"Muguruma Kensei, yes, I know." The kid looked oddly awed and then awkward, glancing away from him, idly brushing his fingertips over his left cheek, where he now noticed a glaring sixty nine was tattooed and what the fuck?! He stared at it with a mixed expression of confusion and unnerve.

"It's an…honor to properly meet you, I'm Hisagi Shuuhei."

"I'll bet, unless that sixty nine tattooed on your damn FACE is a hell of a coincidence. Have we meet before or something?"

"Once, briefly when I was a kid, you saved my life."

"I must have made a pretty damn big impact to get my number tattooed on your damn FACE. I mean what the hell?! THE FACE!"

"I don't regret my decision." Hisagi seemed angry. He stood more straightly, no longer hiding himself almost, but declaring himself with an edge of defiance, as if to challenge him further about it.

"You better not. If someone's going to tattoo a number like that on their face, my number especially, and end up regretting it later then they have no right to have that tattoo. But really the face!?" He was incredulous. "Talk about bold, you know, now that I take a better look at you, you do seem like a punk."

Hisagi looked shocked for a split moment before he just shrugged. "Not really although people do generally assume so, I've never really cared about it. Besides, it keeps people from bothering me about the tattoo." Suddenly he got a little more serious.

"So about the Arrancar, did you notice anything in particular?"

"Not really, he hid himself and there wasn't anything really out of the ordinary. But he did say he had business to take care and it seemed like he had been killing things."

"It's possible… that that's why I didn't see him last night, because of the business he was taking care of. Killing what exactly? Can you guess?"

"It was other Hollows, probably, Hollows can eat each other to gain more power after all. That's probably why he came after me, why he said he'd come and kill me later."

Hisagi's eyes widened slightly before settling into a neutral expression."I'll check the local hot spots. You should stay on your guard."

"Hmh like you need to tell me."

Hisagi bowed deeply to both him and Urahara, "then if you'll excuse me." And silently left the shop. He turned to Urahara who had remained silent during the whole talk. Urahara smiled at him cheekily. "What do you think?"

"Not bad, he's got some fire in him."

Of course when he got back to base, everyone was on him about what he had learned. Mashiro especially seemed curious about the ninth's fukutaicho when she learned they had met. She didn't seem to appreciate his more than likely accurate observation that Hisagi took his paperwork much more seriously than she had. They all seemed put out by the fact that the loss Arrancar hadn't been killed already, some -Hiyori- ranted about how Shinigamis now a days sucked and how they -Hiyori- would've found it and killed it five times over by now. After finally retreating to bed, he spent the rest of the night trying to recall the moment he saved the life of a child, finally, finally coming up with the vague image of a scrawny kid bawling his eyes out after trying to fight a hollow and almost being eaten. Guess you grew up pretty strong huh?

* * *

There was so much blood, cooling pools of it and streaks and splatters on trees and cement. This was savagery, this was killing for sport, this Arrancar obviously enjoyed toying with its food. He left the scene feeling disgusted, searching out the reiatsu of the Arrancar, but the trail was cold, and his lips pulled down into a frown, as he headed to the next spot, ready for a chase. It couldn't have gone far if it was stopping to feast on other hollows, especially if it was playing with them. But it wasn't there, or at the next one, or at any of the other spots he check. There wasn't even a blood bath like at the first one. There was no trace of reiatsu in the air either. Another night wasted, another night with no results. Another night where Muguruma-taicho's life continued to be at risk -never mind that Muguruma-san was more powerful than him and would stand a better chance against the Arrancar than him, never mind that. A part of him still persisted with worry, he wouldn't let Muguruma-san's life be put in danger if he was there to stop it. It would be a small step in the way of paying him back for saving him all those years ago.

Three days. Three days of hunting the Arrancar and arriving moments too late to even follow it, let alone kill it, and he could no longer deny it. The Arrancar was watching him somehow, only ever striking when he was asleep, even faking it didn't seem to fool it - having already tried multiple times only to end up fighting hordes of hollows at each hot spot- and it was damn good at hiding. If that was the case then he would need back up.

* * *

After three days with no word everyone in the base was getting antsy.

"What's taking that guy so long? Three days man, three days." Shinji seemed less than impressed, Hiyori as well.

"I can't stand it! The Soul Society has gone to shit! All their Shinigami suck! Honestly we would never take this long! Jeez, I can't believe they still need us to wipe their asses for them!" She grumbled and stomped around, muttering to herself about how piss poor the Soul Society had gotten. He had to grit his teeth to withhold screaming at her in retaliation. Sure he agreed about how the Soul Society sucked but a part of him rebelled against her spitting on the current fuku-taicho of the ninth, after all it was his division, and someone of his division couldn't be a bad Shinigami… Then again, there was Tosen, that bastard. Ahh, he was willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt, after all, he had to admit he was a little fond of the brat, it was kind of hard not to be when he'd so boldly branded himself with his number.. It made him feel flattered almost, that he had lived on in a way in the Soul Society. He wondered if Tosen had known. How much it had pissed him off…how much trouble he gave to Hisagi for it.

"Aahh! That's it! I can't take it, I'm going to go hunt this thing down myself!" Hiyori made for the door, pissed off as hell.

"Hey, hey. Let's not go doing anything reckless now. Why don't we head to Urahara's, maybe he just forgot to tell us that Hisagi-san had already killed it, nee?" Rose had snatched Hiyori up and restrained her under his arm, a bright placating expression on his face, while she vehemently struggled to break free.

"Well, we've got nothing better to do. I'm game." Love got up and stretched out and the others followed suit. When they got to Urahara's shop, he was sitting down drinking tea with Hisagi, and they all crowded around the door, listening and watching.

"You wished to speak to me?" ("Wow he really does have that punk look" "Look, look! He seriously has a sixty nine on his face!" "Woah, those are some pretty wicked scars." "Shut up, all of you!")

"Yes yes. How have things gone so far with you hmm?" Urahara seemed bright and cheery on the outside, but he could feel the underlying sense of seriousness; he was ready to take action. Hisagi on the other hand looked tired and worn down, a kind of darkness lurked in his eyes.

"No such luck. This Arrancar… It's smart, it's watching me and only attacking when I sleep and I can't seem to fake it out either. I've already sent for back up, but depending on how the paperwork sorts out, they'll be here tonight or tomorrow morning." ("Boo he's so serious, I bet he's no fun at all~" "Idiot didn't I tell you to shut up already!?")

"Now if you'd please excuse me, I'd like to make so plans." Hisagi got up, not even waiting to see if Urahara had anything more to say, making for the door. (Shit, shit! He's coming this way! Move it you guys, move it!")

After Hisagi had disappeared into the distance, they all slowly made there way back to the base, each of there minds already on the same path.

* * *

He sighed, settling down with his back to the headboard. Breathing in deeply as he prepared to meditate until his chosen back up arrived. He focused on the area around him; plain blank walls, crisp bedsheets, an open window to his right, letting cool night air and moonlight pour in, a person perched on the sill, to his left a- person?! His eyes snapped open, head turning to look as he cursed himself for having his guard down, having believed that since he was awake that there wouldn't be any trouble now, and cursed himself again when he realized that he didn't have any soul candy near him.

"Che!" He tensed.

Mashiro smiled, "Sorry about this." And suddenly she disappeared and reappeared by his side, fist pulling back, he snarled slightly trying to dodge it, but her fist slammed into the side of his head and he crumpled to the mattress unconscious. Mashiro lifted him up and laid him under the covers, patting and smoothing it out around him. "There! Sweet dreams~" she jumped back out the window humming slightly to herself before she made a face. Puffing out her cheeks in a pout, when she remembered that she would be waiting with Hiyori and Love at one of the hotspots instead of Kensei. "Hmph that meanie Kensei."("It was a god damned straw draw! What do you want me to do?! Besides If I'm alone with you for such an extended period of time I can't be held accountable for what happens." "Kensei you perv~" "That's not what I meant! I meant that I would finally kill you! You annoying little-uuurgh!" "Hold him back guys! I don't want to have to clean blood off the floor.")

* * *

"Damn this really is a hotspot, jeesh. How many do you think that is?" Shinji yanked his sword out of the fading hollow, adjusting his hat.

"Like I know." Kensei huffed, agitated.

"Well at least they're all gone now. How long do you think we'll have to wait now?"

A new voice piped in, dry and succinct. "Not long." Kensei and Shinji both turned, settling into defensive positions, looking at the figure reclining against a tree. "Sorry I had to make you wait so long. I did say is would kill you after all didn't I? Although-" the figure lifted his blades, two double bladed scythes connected by chain gleamed in the light, and he set one to slowly spinning, the blade whistling.

"-you did give me some trouble hunting, which wasn't very nice, you know? But I'll forgive you."

"What makes you think I want your forgiveness!? You deserve trouble in your life, which I'm about to end real soon!"

"Ooooh big words, I'm shaking-" And the figure stepped out of the shadows "- can you back them up Kensei-sama." Hisagi's tone was mocking.

"Oi oi, what's going on here?" They both stared in open shock.

"Oh you should see the looks on your faces…priceless." Hisagi cackled.

"Weren't you supposed to be hunting down the Arrancar? Hisagi explain yourself!" His reiatsu felt distinctly hollow like and yet earlier when he was at Urahara's shop he could've sworn his reiatsu felt like a typical Shinigami's.

Hisagi snorted derisively,"Don't be an idiot Kensei~ Put that brain of yours to work." Kensei growled at Hisagi's words, while Shinji's eyes widened, putting the pieces together. "Your not an Arrancar, your possessing him. Just what are you?"

Hisagi stroked his chin, hmm-ing dramatically. "I could answer that ooooor we could just get this fight started already. Yeah?" Hisagi face changed into one of psychotic glee, howling as he leap at Kensei, scythe in hand clashing against Tachikaze. Shinji came up behind trying for a surprise attack but his blade was meet with the second scythe and they were both pushed back as he jumped away. He rushed at Kensei, sending a spinning scythe at Shinji were they meet and sent sparks flying into the air. Shinji knocked the spinning blade away and grabbed it's connecting chain, preparing to send it back towards Hisagi who was trading blows with Kensei, only for the blade to go wild and stab into his shoulder. Hisagi laughed as he pulled on the chain, yanking the blade out of Shinji's shoulder, blade flying easily into his hand.

"Damn." Shinji gripped his shoulder, stemming the flow of blood.

"Haha! I'm a bit finicky, your liable to get hurt if you spin my blade around carelessly. Haha I can't believe you even tried that though!" Hisagi rotated his wrist and released the scythe at Kensei but just before their blades meet, Hisagi pulled his arm right and swung it left bringing the chain and blade towards Shinji's prone form.

"Shinji!"

"Shit." He brought up his blade at the last moment, grunting at the force and spin of the kusarigama. Hisagi shunpo-ed in front of Kensei.

"Where are you looking?" Kensei's face twisted as he parried the scythe being brought down on him. "You can't afford to take your eyes off me-" Hisagi shunpo-ed again, appearing directly behind him, "Kensei-sama~" he whispered in a sing-song voice up close to his ear. He whirled away to the side, barely dodging the fatal stab through the back, instead it sliced into his side. He clutched it, anger burning in his core; he let his guard down. He couldn't underestimate this brat, he wasn't the kid who cried at a hollow anymore, he was a fukutaicho with the power to back up the title, and there was no way of telling just how much more powerful this possessed hollow filed version of him was.

Hisagi raised the blade to his lips, pink tongue slipping out and catching the glistening blood. "Mmmm I knew you'd taste good."

He cursed having forgotten that he'd been eating hollows for power; they would have to be careful. Shinji came up on his right. Hisagi's blades were spinning again, shinging and glowing with resolve to kill.

"This is gonna be fun!~" Hisagi snarled out before dissolving into maniacal laughter. Shinji and he pulled out their masks.

* * *

What is that? That reiatsu? It's reiatsu was faint, but he could feel it, breath it, taste it. It had a sharp crispness that grasped at his senses and lighted them, that set them blazing in awareness. Whose? The reiatsu flowed around him like water..no it was lighter it was..like wind but when he reached out to touch it didn't yield to him, it turned to beating stone beneath him. But who's? It smelled like warmth and ozone and bitter sweetness. WHOSE? It tasted like smoothness richness and then a bubbling fizz…Muguruma-taicho. Suddenly things cleared and he could see. See the reiatsu around him and beyond that he could see Kazeshini's own tainted reiryoku. Wh-what? He looked at the dark stained areas of Kazeshini's teal mint reiatsu like oil and grease; he reached out passed Muguruma-san's reiatsu and touched the nearest stain and reeled, fingers burned. A hollow. How could he not have noticed? It was obvious how though; the relationship between them was broken, of course he wouldn't notice, he never paid attention to Kazeshini. He stared solemnly at the burn on his fingertips. Muguruma-san's reiatsu reached out and soothed over it. "Your protecting me aren't you?" The reiatsu grasped at his hands more firmly and tugged almost.

"What? What is it?" It tugged again and continued to tug and he had to wonder how it had even got there, how he had even gotten here. Wait. Muguruma-san! "Kazeshini!" His eyes narrowed in anger. Of course it all made sense, that was why the Arrancar attacked when he was asleep, because it was Kazeshini. And now he's- he surged forward, following his instinct towards the surface of his consciousness. when he reached the surface, he pounded against the barrier keeping him down, fighting to see what was going on outside, catching glimpses of Muguruma-san and someone with yellow hair. Both of them had odd white masks on their faces. Like Kurosaki Ichigo was said to have. No no later, worry about that later. "Damn it Kazeshini! Stop this!" A large crack and he could hear things.

"KAZESHINI! Listen to me!" Kazeshini stumbled in the real world. "Damn it of all the times! Shut up you fearful runt!" Muguruma-san paused in the outside world, mask disappearing, "Hisagi?-" Damn, who couldn't hear what Muguruma-san or the yellow haired man were saying completely yet. Another crack and it created a gap big enough for him to get his hands around and he began to break off pieces. But no matter how many chunks he pulled out the gap never seemed to get bigger. He was so tired, he wanted to lay down, he wanted to catch up on the sleep he had lost, he wanted to sleep forever, sleep in peace. Where there wasn't any taicho betrayal hanging over his head, where the weight of running an entire division wasn't on his shoulders, where he didn't have to constantly battle for agency against a chaotic zanpakuto.

"Come on Hisagi! Fight him!" Muguruma-san. That's right I can't give up.

"You're joking? You have GOT to be fucking kidding me! You were about to give up, you were about to got back to sleep and his words suddenly gave you the strength to fight back!?"

"So what if they did? He's not wrong." ("What am I? Chopped liver!? When did Kensei get so big!?" "Shut up that's not what really matters here!") the barrier crumbled around him and he let himself go. Let himself fall back into sleep as the control flipped and Kazeshini was pushed back down into their spirit world kicking and screaming.

* * *

They all sat around Hisagi's sleeping form, Tessai assured them that he was only sleeping at that what was possessing him wouldn't be a further problem, but a part of him was still tense. Last night had been intense; Hisagi had fought viciously, unpredictably, and wickedly, a swirling dance of skilled scythe work and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't awed by the display, wasn't a little bit breathless by the honed warrior he could see beneath the demented hollow.

"Hmm he looks so serious even in his sleep." Mashiro poked Hisagi in the cheek repeatedly, inspecting him from all angles, and he batted her hand away. "Careful! He needs rest." Hiyori tasked and grumbled about how she couldn't believe she had wasted her time on lowly hollows while he and Shinji got to fight a possessed fukutaicho. Shinji smacked her upside the head, "it wasn't that fun. Besides it was mostly a fight between Kensei and him."

Hisagi shifted and they all got quiet and leaned in close. His eyes opened and he blinked at them. They waited for the filmy haze of sleep to disappear from his eyes, when it did his eyes widened and he sat up and looked between him and Shinji.

"I'd like to apologize. Muguruma-san and-" he paused and looked at Shinji, who smiled widely, bowing slightly as he introduced himself.

"Hirako Shinji, at your service." Shinji finished off his greeting with a stupid tip of his hat.

"-Hirako-san for the trouble I caused you last night."

"Don't be stupid, you were being possessed it wasn't your fault."

"But it was. What was possessing me wasn't some hollow, it was my own zanpakuto."

"Your zanpakuto?"

"Ah." Hisagi looked regretful, hands fisted in the sheets lying on his lap as shocked moved its way through the group.

"This is no good, no good at all~ You should be resting still Hisagi-san." Urahara came in followed by Tessai, who struck on the back of the neck and knocked him back out. "Back to sleep now while the adults chat." Urahara turned and smiled at them from underneath the brim of his hat, "Tea?"

"Urahara explain what he meant by his zanpakuto possessing him?" Lisa demanded, standing, the rest of the group nodded their heads.

"Perhaps we should move this to a more convenient location, preferably in a place were we can have tea." Urahara's eyes glinted and his tone be some more serious. "There's a Shinigami here, one that Hisagi-san is friends with. If anyone's going to be able to answer that and better than I can it'll be him."

* * *

"For as long as I've known Hisagi-san his zanpakuto has always been of a…questionable sanity." Kira put down his tea." Hisagi-san is a very stressed person, he takes his job very seriously, and in the wake of his taicho's betrayal he has been left to run the ninth division on his own. Performing the duties of a taicho, fukutaicho, and running the Seretei magazine."

"So that's what Kisuke meant when he said he was practically the captain of the ninth division. Damn that must have been tough." Shinji seemed to be impressed.

"Indeed, but he managed. It is my theory, that Hisagi-san's zanpakuto is as volatile as he is, is because he is a representation of that stress and also a representation of every negative thing that Hisagi-san has suppressed."

"Woah, that's deep. And harsh." Rose seemed subdued almost, as if his heart was hurt or touched by what he had heard.

"It is even possible that he has or will eventually suppress even his own happiness or things of that sort."

"His own happiness?" He was incredulous, why would someone do something like that.

"You must understand, that if his zanpakuto truly is a representation of suppressed negativity then it is a negativity that Hisagi-san has defined as such. So long as he finds it something to be negative it will considered as that and suppressed. On another note, didn't just come here because Hisagi-san sent for help, I have a message for you all from Sou-taicho Yamamoto." The Visords shared a look.

* * *

When Hisagi came to, it was two days later and he was greeted with the knowledge that Muguruma-san would be returning to the ninth as taicho. He thought that he was rather justified in fainting, although they all seemed to find it a riotous thing and wouldn't stop teasing him about it. He breathed a sigh of relief when he returned to the Soul Society and to his work away from the menaces that called themselves Hiyori-san and Mashiro-san.

* * *

Introducing Muguruma-taicho to the rest of the ninth was awkward, they weren't quick to accept Muguruma-san as their new captain having put their faith in him, but after hearing about Muguruma-san's dedication to the ninth and Hisagi's own trust in Muguruma-san they were at least willing to give him a try. When Mashiro-san was introduced as the new super-fukutaicho he would be lying if he denied he wasn't hurt, that it didn't feel like there was a vice around his heart and like his lungs took residence in his throat. And he would be lying again if he denied that when he went to give his formal goodbyes to his taicho and they were shot down because 'You're a damn good Shinigami, just because Mashiro's here to give me trouble doesn't mean I don't want you as my fukutaicho. I expect to see you tomorrow Hisagi.' That he wasn't…happy and light. And if he heard Muguruma-taicho praising the fact that he actually did his paperwork unlike sooomee people, well he was kind enough not to laugh…within earshot. That first month was grueling; getting the ninth to blend with Muguruma-san's guidance and cleansing himself of the hollows that Kazeshini had consumed was straining on him and he was just glad that things were running seamlessly now. Of course that was until Muguruma-taicho approached him about fixing the problems between him and Kazeshini.

* * *

"Look we can't let something like that happen again and it's obvious to me that you have things to settle with him."

"There's nothing to be done taicho."

"Bullshit. Something needs to be done. Why do you have such a big problem with your zanpakuto?"

He didn't want to answer, didn't want to unleash his shame, but he knew that in the end he would give in, it was only a matter of time. They could repeat this day after day and in the end he would be the one to give in. "I don't like it, the way Kazeshini is shaped. he looks like he's meant to reap life."

"You don't like the way he's shaped? For the love of- why? Hisagi he's you, his shape is you, why do you hate that? And he's a sword which is meant to kill of course he's going to 'reap life'."

"Those who do not fear their own swords have no right to wield them, Tosen-taicho taught me that." This made Kensei anger, anger enough to grab Shuuhei by his shihakusho and bring in him close, a dark glare boring into him.

"Tosen is not your captain anymore, I am-" Kensei's voice was shaking with rage and Shuuhei tried not to let it show that it effected him in any way. "-and you need to forget everything he taught you. He betrayed the Soul Society, he betrayed the ninth division, he betrayed you, ok? You need to let him go."

Shuuhei pushed him away, "How? Why!? Why should I!? He helped me!"

"Oh so, teaching you to be afraid, afraid of your zanpakuto and afraid of yourself, is helping you!?"

"He taught me that it was ok! That it was ok to be afraid and that I should use that fear to drive me, so that I could fight for people who shared the same fear."

" 'let your fear drive you' huh? That's crap, if your constantly afraid you're never going to move forward, you're never going to achieve anything! You're never going to reach your potential Shuuhei! If you want to be afraid then fine, be afraid, but don't let it stop you and call that letting it drive you, because fear only ever helps you run away not stand and fight." For a long time neither of the said anything they only stood there.

"I-I don't-I don't. Kazeshini he's… He's so violent a-and crass. He loves to fight, to kill and I-I… What is there not to hate about him? All he wants is to kill, is power. If he is me than I must be a-a demon." Shuuhei shook and Kensei understood; it had been hard to understand and accept his new found statis as a Visored.

"Kira said that Kazeshini was you suppressing negativity-" Kensei started slowly, trying to find the words. "-if that's true, then, Shuuhei you need to learn to let things go. Let things die in their time. You-you need to feel things and let them go, even I know it's not good to bottle things up. It's ok to be angry at your friends sometimes and it's ok to like fighting, hell, look at the eleventh division. That's all there is to it and I guarantee that if you talk to Kazeshini instead of at him that you both will be able to reach a middle ground."

"But I don't suppress anything." Shuuhei was almost petulant.

"Shuuhei, yes, yes you do. You suppress many MANY things, I'm sure of it. Look I'm not sure why you would think your a demon or anything like that, ok? I will tell you though what I think you are." Shuuhei looked up, surprised and then nervous.

"I think that you're a crying brat that managed to grow into a respectable, responsible, strong, not-crying-but-still-a-brat punk with questionable tattoos. You managed to run an entire division all on your own and I am deeply impressed. You work hard and I can always count of you to be by me and you've stuck beside me through this first month and trusted me and I'm grateful. I know I don't say that a lot but I'm being honest when I say that because they wouldn't have accosted me nearly as quickly if you hadn't trusted me, so thank you. You're an amazingly rounded fighter with some kiiieeeeyyawesome skills and I won't accept you being stagnate because I know your potential. So I'm going to push and train and help fight for every inch of power that I know you have." After Kensei's little speech, there was another silence, wherein Shuuhei saught for an answer.

"You were about to say killer weren't you?"

"Nope no I wasn't. It's a slang term. That I. picked up. From the uh. Human world. Yes." Shuuhei gave Kensei a pointed look, before scratching the back of his neck and bowing. "Thank you."

"Your welcome I guess. I mean every word of it, especially the training part. I'm going to beat you into the ground just so I can raise you up even higher." Kensei had an almost evil look on his face that made Shuuhei scared for his life.

"But, Muguruma-taicho, why do you care so much exactly?"

Kensei sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, giving Shuuhei a sidelong look. "I guess it's because you aren't the only one who's been…moved. This past month I've learned so much about you and I want to learn even more."

Kensei had a soft look on his face and he reached out with his right hand and gently took Shuuhei's head a brought it towards his own and brought them into a kiss. A soft kiss, a simple brush of lips to brief either of them to even blink their eyes, but in it a clear message. Shuuhei stared at him and searched him with a face of open shock, a hand pressed against Kensei's chest, and Kensei waited. Waited for him to say something, anything. "That was perhaps the most roundabout confession. Ever. Muguruma-san."

Kensei flushed and looked away, "What did you expect, I'm not a feelings kinda person, I prefer to let my actions speak for themselves. Kensei, Muguruma-san is weird now."

Shuuhei's lips quirked up slightly, in a kind of half smile. "I don't think they spoke loud enough."

Kensei smirk and his gaze suddenly became heated. "Now your talkin'."

* * *

Power. He wanted power.

So he tried to gain it from hollows. Tried to drink it in.

But. He supposed that gaining it this way wasn't so bad.

Power was power after all. And he wanted it.

And if perhaps he gained more than just power well then, who was he to complain.

It wasn't like he actually cared though. Love was such a trivial thing.

("Hmph you know you love me." "Shut up! You wish!" "Ha! I don't have too.")


End file.
